Double threat to local justice

Proposed legal aid reforms could prove “devastating” for traditional solicitors’ firms, while denying justice to those accused, local lawyers warn.
Meanwhile, there are renewed fears for the future of Newbury’s magistrates court.
The Government has announced that it wants to slash £220m from the legal aid bill and critics say that hundreds of small high street firms will be replaced by huge contractors such as G4S.
The senior partner at Charles Hoile Solicitors, Newbury, Mike Davis, said: “The devastating thing for us is that we’d have to bid on a regional basis for the whole of the Thames Valley. Your firm has to be massive. We’re the only remaining Newbury firm doing criminal work and we simply couldn’t bid. You’ll end up with four massive firms replacing 50 in the region.
“Defendants will be allocated the cheapest option – say, a paralegal with minimal training who has probably never seen inside a courtroom before. There will be no incentive to go to trial so people will be wrongly advised to plead guilty.”
He added: “It’s potentially devastating for us. And quality of servicse – the sort of service we provide – will end.”
Stephen Collins, of Reading-based Albin and Co, said: “There will be no one in Newbury to help if you’re arrested. We’re quite a big firm in Reading but we’re not big enough. If you’re unlucky enough to be arrested you’ll be allocated someone untrained from outside the area who has no incentive to investigate your case.”
There are renewed fears, too, that West Berkshire Magistrates’ Court in Newbury is being deliberately under-used so that it can be closed, despite winning a reprieve following a huge campaign in 2010.
Currently, many local cases are allocated to courts in Slough and Reading, and the number of days the Newbury bench sits has been cut.
Newbury MP Richard Benyon, who was one of the campaigners, said: “I’ve written to the head of the court service and I don’t find the answer reassuring.
“I don’t want policy decisions taken by bean counters – they should abide by the minister’s decision in 2010. We want Newbury magistrates, sitting in Newbury, dispensing local justice.”
See next week’s Newbury Weekly News for more on the fears for Newbury Magistrates’ Court.